Dionysios bar Ṣalibi (d. 1171) [Syr. Orth.]

Metropolitan of Amid, and prolific Syr. Orth. author. A biography, by Patr. Michael Rabo, is unfortunately lost. He was probably
born in Melitene, which was an important meeting point for Syriac and
Greek cultures in the 12th cent. His baptismal name was Yaʿqub. His earliest
work was a refutation of a book written by Yuḥanon of Mardin, who had claimed that the fall of Edessa to the
Seljuks in 1144 took place against God’s will. At Yuḥanon’s request, the
patr.
put Yaʿqub (still a deacon) under an interdict, but later, once he had
read Yaʿqub’s work, lifted this and appointed him bp. of Marʿash
(Germanikia), with the episcopal name Dionysios (1148). After the capture of
Marʿash by the Armenians in 1156 he returned to Melitene. In 1164/5, he was
offered the see of Amid but declined it, though was later persuaded to
accept, after Michael had become patr. (Oct. 1166). At Amid Dionysios
restored the church of the Yoldat Aloho.

Dionysios died in November 1171, and was buried on the south side of the
church of the Yoldat Aloho in Amid, alongside two patriarchs (Michael,
Chronicle, III, 344–5). He must have been at least 50 years old, and perhaps
considerably more. He was succeeded as bp. by his synkellos Abraham who,
however, died shortly afterwards (Michael, Chronicle, III, 354).

Two slightly conflicting lists of his works survive, one in Michael’s
Chronicle (III, 344–5), the other separately (printed in Assemani, BibOr, vol. 2, 210–11). Many of the works named in
these lists do not survive, while those that do survive have so far only
partly been published.

Main extant works:

1. Commentaries on the Old Testament. Dionysios was the first Syr. Orth.
writer to provide a commentary on the entire Bible. He draws on a great
variety of earlier commentators, both Greek (in Syriac translation) and
Syriac, including commentators from the Ch. of E. Much of the commentary on
the OT was arranged in two parts, ‘material’ (suʿronoʾit) and ‘spiritual’ (ruḥonoʾit). Of
the OT commentaries only those on Psalms 73–82 (ed. S. D. Ryan, Dionysius bar Salibi’s Factual and Spiritual Commentary on
Psalms 73–82 [Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 57; 2004]) and the
‘spiritual’ commentary on Qohelet (based on the Syro-Hexapla,
rather than the Peshitta) have so
far been published (W. Strothmann, GOFS 31, 1988). The commentaries on other
OT books remain unpublished, though some have been studied in dissertations.
The oldest ms. was copied in 1189, only 18 years after his death (for mss.,
see A. Vööbus, in
ZAW
84 [1972], 246–9).

2. Commentaries on the New Testament. The Commentaries on Matt., Mark, Luke,
Acts, Catholic Epistles, and Apocalypse have been published by I. Sedlacek,
J.-B. Chabot, and A. Vaschalde, with LT: Gospels, I.1 (CSCO 15–16; 1906);
I.2 (CSCO 77, 85; 1915, 1922); II.1 (CSCO 95, 98; 1931, 1933); II.2 (CSCO
113–4; 1939, 1940); Acts, Catholic Epistles, and Apocalypse (CSCO 53, 60;
1909, 1910). The Comm. on John was later published (without tr.) by R.
Lejoly (1975). That on the Pauline Epistles remains unpublished (for mss.,
see A. Vööbus in Abr Nahrain 9 [1969/70], 39–42). The
commentary on the Apocalypse preserves some quotations from the otherwise
lost treatise of Hippolytus against Gaius.

3. Commentary on the Liturgy, ed. with LT by H. Labourt (CSCO 13–14; 1903).
There is an ET by B. Varghese, Dionysius Bar Salibi.
Commentary on the Eucharist (Kottayam, 1998). Besides the
commentary on the Eucharistic liturgy just mentioned, Dionysios also
commented on the baptismal service and the Myron (ed. with ET by B.
Varghese, Dionysius Bar Salibi. Commentary on Myron and
Baptism [Moran Etho 29; 2006]).

5. Commentary on Aristotle’s
logical works (Organon). This commentary covers Porphyry’s
Eisagoge (‘Introduction’) and the first three books of the corpus of
Aristotle’s logical works, namely, Categories, Interpretation, and Analytics
I–II. The work was completed in 1148, shortly after Dionysios had become bp.
of Marʿash. Dionysios states that his purpose was to provide an abbreviation
of previous commentators. At the end of the work he complains about the
barbarity and ignorance shown by the Syriac translator of Analytics II. The
work survives, not quite complete, in ms. Cambridge Gg. 2.14
(unpublished).

6. Polemical Works. Of his polemical works only the treatises against the
Armenians (ed. A. Mingana, in Woodbrooke Studies 4
[1931], with ET), the Melkites (ed. Mingana, in Woodbrooke
Studies 1 [1927], with ET), the Jews (ed. de Zwaan, 1906; text
only), and the Muslims (J. P. Amar, CSCO 614–5; 2005) have been published.
There are important studies of the last by A. Mingana (
BJRL
9 [1925], 188–240, on Qurʾān quotations) and S. H. Griffith
(
SymSyr IV, 353–65). An analysis of the treatise
against the Nestorians was given by F. Nau in ROC
II.4 (1909), 298–320.

7. Anaphoras. Three anaphoras attributed to Dionysios are known, but only the
first (which is also sometimes attributed to Dionysius the
Areopagite) has been published (e.g., Pampakuda editions of 1976,
1986; ed. Çiçek, 1985; LT in E. Renaudot, Liturgiarum
Orientalium Collectio [1847], vol. 2, 448–52).

8. Canons. The penitential canons associated with Dionysios’s name survive in
many different forms, whose interrelationships are studied by A. Vööbus in
Kanonessammlungen, vol. IB (CSCO 317; 1970),
405–39; for other canons attributed to Dionysios see Kanonessammlungen, vol. IA, 240–53.

2. On Providence: written in response to Yuḥanon of Mardin’s work, after the
fall of Edessa in 1144.

3. Chronicle: The preface for this is preserved by Michael (Chronicle, III,
257). Though he had intended to write a world chronicle, he only had time to
deal with contemporary history.

4. Two 12-syllable
memre on the two captures of
Edessa, mentioned by Michael (Chronicle, III, 267).

5. Three discourses on the destruction of Marʿash by the Armenians
(Chronicle, III, 314).

6. Two memre on an episode where a Maphrian was
imprisoned for his judgement over the betrothal of a Christian daughter of a
Christian who had converted to Islam (the episode is related by Bar ʿEbroyo, Eccl. Hist., II, 347–51).